Choosing a Path

“Of
course you didn’t,” Finn said, turning the page. “Don’t worry, I’m just reading
it. I’m not ripping out pages and making hats with them.”

“I
didn’t say…why would you…?” Tom reddened as he got flustered.

“Relax.
I know that Kenneth sent you in here to make sure the Book was safe.”

“He
didn’t…I mean, he just wanted me to keep you company while he and Morris have a
private word.”

Finn
smiled wryly at Tom, who stood behind the couch she sat on, very nervously
edging toward the wall. It’d been over an hour since Morris and Kenneth had
stepped outside, and by the sound of the shouting it was more than just those
two out there. “Kenneth sent you in here to guard me. It’s ok, I know I’m the
outsider here. Just don’t hover, it makes me nervous.” She turned back to the
Tome. “You could even sit down.”

Very
cautiously, as if Finn were a wild animal, Tom walked around and sat in one of
the armchairs. He was quiet for a long time. Long enough for Finn to read a few
more pages before he spoke again. “It’s not that I think you’re going to do
something with the Tome,” he said. “It’s just…it’s the Tome. I’ve never even
seen it before.”

“Would
you like to read it?” Finn picked it up and held it out to him.

Tom
shook his head. “I can’t. I tried reading over your shoulder and the pages just
looked…blank. I think I’d have to touch it or be tested by it in order to read
it. There’s an old legend about that.”

Finn
set the Book back down in her lap. “I wonder why I can read it, then.” As soon
as Kenneth and Morris left, before Tom was sent in, she had opened the Book
just to see what it looked like. The script had transformed before her eyes
into plain English, still hard to read, but understandable.

“It’s
probably because Cassady gave it to you. So you have her permission.”

“Like
an interim Keeper?” Finn said.

“Maybe.
The legend says only worthy Craftlings can read the Book, but maybe if the
Keeper gives you permission, a Malcoh can too.”

“Malcoh,”
Finn repeated. She’d read more about the classifications of magic users, and it
seemed strange to be lumped in with such powerful people just because she’d
been born near them. If there were magical Malcoh on Earth, Finn was definitely
not one of them. “Can I ask you a question?” she said to Tom,

“Uh,
sure.”

“The
Malcoh…most of us on planet Earth don’t have any magic. Pretty much everyone
thinks it isn’t real. I don’t know about the other planets, hell, I don’t even
know if I believe the other planets exist, but I have to think that they aren’t
100% magical either. So I was wondering, are the Craftlings that way? Are there
some Craftlings that are born without being able to use magic?”

“Honestly?”
Tom said. “No. There aren’t. Craftlings are Craftlings, every last one of us.
It’s the same for the Dacruum I think. The Malcoh are just…well your ancestors
went through a lot and some family lines don’t have magic in them anymore. Back
then people could make that choice, to rid themselves of power completely.
Nearly the entire planet Earth did, all at once. That was a few thousand years
ago. I’m sure the Book tells it better than I can.” He pointed to the Tome.
“Try looking up the Covenant of Earth.”

“That’s
easier said than done,” Finn said. The Book, being a magical object, didn’t
seem to keep its pages in any sort of order. They moved around, sections
expanding or shrinking at will. So the Book never got any fatter, but it was
always a chore trying to find what you wanted. Finn had discovered that if she
thought hard enough about what she wanted to read, it would eventually appear.
Maybe it was the Book taking pity on her, letting her read while its real
Keeper was gone.

As
Finn flipped through the pages she said, as casually as she could, “There is
something else I was wondering.”

“What
is it?” Tom seemed more relaxed now. Maybe she had proved that she wasn’t about
to bite.

“Earlier
tonight, or yesterday I guess, we were attacked outside Cassie’s grandmother’s
place. We didn’t really get a chance to talk about it. All Kenneth and Morris
said was that it was Dacruum soldiers after the Book. And that’s certainly what
it seemed like. But I’ve been thinking, and some of this stuff that I’ve been
reading about the Dacruum…well you would know better than I would. Do you think
they did anything after we left? Would they hurt people, go after our families,
something to try and find us?”

“No,
I don’t think so,” Tom said. “I actually went back there a few hours ago and
they were gone. No damage, no one injured. I’m pretty sure they never figured
out who Cassady really was, other than the Keeper. They got whatever they came
for and left.”

“I
thought they came for the Book?” Finn held the corners defensively, as if
someone might try to snatch it away even now.

“They
did. But they can’t do anything if the Keeper has it. And she’s safe. There
were some other things that they wanted, and I’m afraid they got those.”

“Well
they’re not, exactly,” said Tom. “They were Dogs. It’s a nickname for an elite
squadron of soldiers. They’re not part of the main military. It’s kind of hard
to explain; you’d have to understand Dacruum politics. See, where we have the
Consulate to balance the queen, they have only an Emperor with three advisors.
The advisors are called the Triumvirs, and they each control a branch of the
military. Part of that includes a squad that answers only to them. The Dogs,
the Riders, and the Reapers. The Dogs belong to the Hunter. Get it? The
hunter’s hounds? They can be dangerous, you saw that. But they’re single
minded. They follow orders to the letter and only kill when they have to. You
shouldn’t have to worry about your family.”

“Good,”
Finn let go of a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. It’d probably been
stuck in her lungs ever since Cassie first touched the Book and collapsed. It
was actually nice to have Tom here babysitting her. He was earnest and
positive, if a little skittish. She continued to flip through pages, hoping for
something about the Covenant, whatever that meant.

From the moment
they’d walked into that attic, Finn had been on edge. It was like her whole
body was hyper-alert, ready for anything at any moment. She knew she should be
scared. Even now, she wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t dreaming. But at some
point between being attacked by fire, transported by song, watching Kenneth’s
eyes change color like a high-quality mood ring, and holding a star in her
hands, Finn had found herself in a calm, observational state. Magic was real,
as was everything that came along with it. Whatever might happen next, it
couldn’t be stranger than that. It was a challenge, a dare from the universe to
keep her and Cassie safe until all of this was over. And so Finn simply watched
and listened, cataloguing information in case anything turned out to be
important for their survival later. It was surprisingly freeing.

Tom seemed to be
leaning forward, straining to hear the conversation on the other side of the
door. Finn hadn’t gotten a good look at him earlier. His grey suit went well
with his olive complexion, and his hair was well groomed away from his face.
His dark eyes were bright and eager, and his cheeks were brushed with freckles.
He looked quite a bit like that man Carlton from before, but he was shorter and
stockier. He seemed kind of like a football player in a suit—a bit out of his
element.

“Do you know
what they’re talking about out there?” Finn said, trying to start up the
conversation again.

Tom shrugged.
“Not really. Though every argument’s the same with Morris involved. He’s always
trying to prove that his way is the only way. Still, even though he’s
technically just a steward, he carries a lot of influence. He’s been here a
long time.”

“Basically,” Tom
actually smiled. “Right now Morris wants to send out a search party looking for
your friend, and Kenneth says that if we let her come back on her own it will
prove to her that she can trust us.”

“Who do you
think is right?” Finn tested.

“We both know
Kenneth is,” Tom said without hesitation. “If she feels like a prisoner here,
why would she agree to stay? We all want her to stay.”

“Because you
need a queen,” Cassie said.

“Of course. The
Consulate can keep order, but only the queen can protect the realm.”

“You mentioned
that before,” Finn said. “What exactly is the Consulate? I thought this was a
monarchy.”

“That’s kind of—”

“Hard to
explain?” Finn finished for him. “Just try me.”

“Ok. It’s actually
really interesting. See, an Order like ours isn’t much like a monarchy at all.
The Queen—” A loud bang cut him off. Followed by shouting, the braying of a
horse, and the sounds of sudden movement. “Uh-oh,” Tom said. He rushed to the
door.

Finn
was right on his heels. “What happened?” When Tom flung open the door she
pushed past him into the hallway, but froze when she saw the scene before her.

Morris
was lying on the ground, trying to push himself upright while holding his head
in pain. None other than Charlotte Brewell stood above him, her face redder
than her hair, which, like her clothes, was in complete disarray. Two boys and
a girl in their early teens were trying to restrain an older man in a raincoat
and a unicorn who were both shouting—or in the case of the unicorn,
whistling—angrily. Kenneth stepped forward. “Calm down, Charlotte,” he said.

“Still
no excuse for cracking a man’s head against the floor,” Morris said, getting to
his feet. “Your daughter came with me of her own free will.”

“Accepting
candy from the man in the van doesn’t mean she wants to come home with you.”

“Whatever
that means,” Morris snorted. “You’re the one who had her trapped. Who lied to
her. She didn’t have to accept the Book, didn’t have to say the spell. She was practically
begging me to bring her to this life.”

“You
son of a bitch,” Charlotte raised her hand and her palm started to glow. But
before she could move, Morris threw his arm out in a sweeping gesture and
Charlotte shot eight feet into the air, a hazy light distorting the space
around her. With an indignant squeaking sound she let fly the glow still in her
palm and a hot bolt of light shot straight toward Morris. He rolled out of the
way, spinning to his feet as the beam ricocheted off the floor with a bright
pinging sound. The unicorn brayed again and the three kids threw themselves to
the ground, arms over their heads.

Kenneth
ran forward, throwing his hands in the air. Two purple spheres encircled the
combatants like cages. “Stop it both of you. You’re acting like children, and
you’re going to get someone hurt. Charlotte, you laid the spell, you know we
couldn’t have taken Cassie unless she came willingly. And Morris, stop being an
asshole about it. Now please, can we be civil and talk about this?”

Neither
of them said anything for a moment. Morris was glowering at Kenneth, but
Charlotte was looking around. She met Finn’s eyes and Finn could see something
besides anger. Charlotte had noticed Cassie’s absence. Finn felt a sudden guilt
creeping up on her. How much time had passed since they’d left? What must her
parents have thought when she didn’t come home?

“Let
me down,” Charlotte said calmly.

“Morris?”
Kenneth said.

Morris
didn’t drop his scowl, but he waved his hand and let Charlotte drop to the
bottom of Kenneth’s shield sphere. Kenneth rolled his eyes, but lowered the
shield to the ground. Morris brushed himself off angrily. Charlotte rushed
forward to Finn.

“That’s
right,” Morris said, “your daughter is off doing exactly what you always did.
Reckless, wandering off on her own, refusing to listen to the counsel of
others. Only the hard way will do, completely resentful of her
responsibilities. You may as well have raised your own clone. I believe you
trusted that doddering old Ulcrean once too, didn’t you?”

Charlotte
growled softly. “You underestimate me; you always have. And you’re
underestimating Cassady right now. You say she came with you of her own free
will? Fine. She wants to know the truth, and she knows you’re not telling the
whole story. That doddering old Ulcrean may be a bit off his rocker, but he’ll
tell her what you’re too afraid to. And once she knows, she’ll never accept.”

“One
life is not worth every soul in the universe!” Morris screamed.

There
was silence. Morris looked proud for a moment that he had stunned them all, but
then he turned where everyone else was looking and saw Cassie and another
unicorn standing a few feet down the corridor. “You wouldn’t be talking about
me, would you?” Cassie said.

“Cassady,”
Charlotte ran forward and threw her arms around her daughter, tears filling her
eyes. “I’m so glad you’re ok.”

“It’s
all right Mom,” Cassie patted her mother awkwardly on the back. “Everything’s
going to be all right.

Charlotte
pulled back, keeping a firm grip on Cassie’s shoulders. “Is it? You haven’t
decided anything, have you?” Charlotte searched Cassie’s face as if her
thoughts might be written there.

Cassie
pushed her mother’s arms away. “No, I haven’t decided anything. But when I do,
it will be my choice to make. All of you need to remember that.” Cassie looked
over Charlotte’s shoulder at Morris, who wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I’m sorry
that I left like that Mom, but you have no right to be mad at me.”

“I
don’t?” Charlotte’s anger started to rise in her voice again.

“No,”
Cassie was firm. “Not after you lied to me. You lied to me my entire life. Do
you know what that’s like? To wake up one morning and suddenly realize that
everything you thought you knew was wrong? That Book,” she pointed to the Tome
in Finn’s arms, “that Book was supposed to be mine. It was trying to call to
me, and you blocked that. Millions of people could have died.”

“I
was trying to protect you,” Charlotte said.

“And
a fat lot of good that does,” Cassie snapped. “I’d have gotten killed sooner or
later and so would you. You weren’t protecting me, you were hiding.” Charlotte
tried to interrupt but Cassie wouldn’t let her. “Yeah, war is hell and people
die, but giving up doesn’t save any of them. What did you think would happen
when half the universe got blown to pieces? Did you really think we’d be spared?”

“Thank
you!” Morris said. “That’s what I’ve been trying--”

“And
don’t get me started on you,” Cassie stepped past her mother, rounding on
Morris. “You manipulated me into accepting a role I didn’t even understand.
Giving me that Book without warning me what it was is like handing a nuclear
bomb to a child and telling them it’s a football. You’re damn lucky I didn’t
die the second I touched it. If all you’re looking for in a leader is a propped
up wooden placeholder then you can transfer all your precious Brewell
enchantments to the stick up your ass and I won’t have to see your ugly face
again.”

“Cassie,
you can’t…” Kenneth tried to intervene.

“It
is possible,” piped up the unicorn that had come in with Cassie. “Not the stick
part, but the Watchers say it can be done. The bloodline can be separated from
the crown with all enchantments intact. Cassie here wouldn’t have to be your
figurehead. But it is dark magic, born from blood. I don’t recommend it.”

“You
spoke to the watchers?” Charlotte said, looking from Cassie to the unicorn.

Cassie
nodded. “I did. And they didn’t have any good news for us. Whatever happens
now, whether I become queen or not, we’ve come too far to avoid bloodshed.” She
looked directly at her mother. “I should have been told. Ages ago; you should
have warned me. If you had trusted me enough to tell me the truth, maybe I could
have stayed out of this. But now I’m in it whether I like it or not.”

“Cassady
stop talking like it’s too late,” Charlotte ordered. “If I could go back and
change things…I couldn’t tell you, I couldn’t. You weren’t ready. Don’t you
understand? I wanted a better life for you. Knowing about magic, about the
Craftlings, it’s too much responsibility for a child. You can’t blame me for
wanting my daughter to live a life free of sacrifice.”

“There’s
no such thing,” Cassie said. “I know that now more than ever. I’m not a child
anymore, Mom. I can’t hide behind your lies forever.”

“I
never lied to you, I swear. Not outright. I didn’t tell you everything, but I
never fabricated a life for you. You made your own choices, became your own
person. You had a freedom I never had. I thought you would want that.”

“Perhaps
there’s no such thing as freedom, either,” the unicorn, the Wanderer, said. He
said it so casually, shaking his mane out across his neck. “You are here, after
all. Where you swore you would never be.”

“No!”
Charlotte insisted. “It doesn’t have to be like that. If Morris cares so little
for the value of one life, then let them have their human sacrifice. Cassie,
this doesn’t have to be your responsibility. These men,” she gestured at
Morris, Kenneth, the man in the raincoat, even the other unicorn, “they are the
ones who have made the world this way. It’s their burden. And you think it’s so
easy to carry? That you can just fix it? Ask Morris where he was when your
grandmother died. Ask Kenneth how he got that scar on his arm. You want to take
on their pain, their mistakes?”

“I
want to do what is right,” Cassie said, her voice matching her mother’s in
volume, “whatever the cost.”

“It
costs your life! And I won’t allow it.”

Cassie’s
voice was harsh, but underneath she sounded sad. “You don’t have a choice. None
of us do.”

They
spent that night in the Royal Suite. The rooms were bright and airy,
comfortably decorated by Cassie’s grandmother with plenty of paisley and
chintz. Finn haggled with Morris about whether or not they needed anything for
the night. As uncomfortable as she was here, after Cassie’s outburst Finn knew
that she needed to be the one with the level head if she wanted to keep things
from getting worse. Cassie hadn’t even said goodbye to her mother. Charlotte
had given Finn a hug before she left and promised to try to explain things to
her parents. Both girls would have liked to go home, but apparently it was
impossible. Since they had been magically transported such a long distance on
their first run, their “cellular structure was too unstable to be broken up
again.” They’d have to wait at least a couple of weeks before they’d be able to
transport anywhere. At least, that’s what Kenneth had said. Everyone else
seemed to agree, but Finn wasn’t completely sure they weren’t just trying to
hold them here.

As soon as
Morris shut the door behind him, Finn turned around to find Cassie leaning on
the windowsill looking out at the garden that formed the center of the Royal Suite.
Finn walked up to her and looked over her shoulder. The moonlight was bright, glinting
off the towers. It was a small garden, just a couple of benches and an archway
covered in a vine thick with white buds. Everything in the garden was white,
the flowerbeds practically overflowing. Finn actually recognized some of the
flowers, like dragon fruit and queen of the night. She wondered if Cassie’s Gran
had brought them all the way here.

“For dragging
you along. I didn’t have to make you come with me. And now you’re stuck here
and I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”

“It’s ok,
really.” Finn smiled. “I know this is insane, but I’m all right. Besides, I
don’t want you to go through this alone.”

“Thanks,” Cassie
said. “You being calm actually helps me be calm.”

Finn raised her
eyebrows. “You call that calm back there?”

“Ok, calmer than
I could be,” Cassie admitted. “It’s all pretty overwhelming.”

“Tell me about
it.” Finn crossed the room and sat down on the bed. It was enormous, wider than
she was tall and topped with a lace canopy. The whole room was huge, really.
Cassie and Finn could have fit together in the chest at the foot of the bed,
and the vanity took up half the wall. The closet was bigger than Finn’s room
back home and the dresser was the size of a bear. Looking around, Finn wondered
if Cassie’s tiny grandmother had really lived in this place. And if, one day,
Cassie would come to stay here too. “You know,” Finn said, “as much as I love
my mother’s stories and fantasy novels, I never really dreamed a place like
this could exist. I know this inheritance stuff scares you, but…maybe being a
part of all this wouldn’t be so bad.”

Cassie came and
sat down beside her friend. The Tome lay where she’d tossed it on the coverlet,
and she traced her hand over the title fondly. “It’s not that that worries me,”
Cassie said. “Could I hold on to this Book for the rest of my life? Sure. Could
I live in a palace and be a queen? That’s every girl’s dream. But when I
fainted in the attic I saw…I don’t know what I saw. Anyu says it was a vision
of a possible future. And none of it is a future I want to see. When I went to
the Watchers they told me so much, but they didn’t say how I’m supposed to
handle any of this.”

“Maybe they didn’t
know either,” Finn said. “You know, I read in the Book that the Watchers are
supposed to be the guiding hand of god. And that whatever parts of life are
predetermined, they’re supposed to make sure that they happen. But so much of
life isn’t predetermined; it all depends the choices we make. So the Watchers
wouldn’t know much more than you do.”

“That’s not as
comforting as you think it is,” Cassie said. “And since when are you able to
read the Book?”

“Since you
handed it to me,” Finn said. “I think it cast some sort of spell on me, because
now I can read it and all the signs that we passed on the way here. Maybe when
you and everyone else left me alone with it, it commiserated with me. It may
have abandonment issues.”

“Impressive, for
a Book,” Cassie said. “But I suppose it’s powerful enough. It’ll take me a long
time to figure out how this thing works.”

“Maybe, but
maybe not. It’s like anything else really—you fumble around for a while and
then once you get the hang of the rules, it starts to get easy. I was looking
at the Doctrines and those sections of the universe that Morris was talking
about. It’s pretty hard to follow, but it’s all there. How everything works.
And I mean everything. From molecules to planets they have a neat little
explanation about what it is and how it works. These guys may be confusing as
shit about the future, but they know the way things stand. If anything is going
to help us, that knowledge will.”

Cassie played
with her necklace the way she did when she was thinking. She opened the Book to
a spot in the middle and flipped through the pages. “I don’t know if we have
time to learn everything we need to,” she said. “But whatever we can find out
would help.” She looked up at Finn with a bit of a haunted expression in her
eyes. “The only thing I know is the stakes. The Watchers showed me some of the
Realm. All those people…cities and farms and mines and little houses by the
sea. I used to think Earth was so big and now” she sighed, “now I don’t even
know where we are.”

“I asked, but no
one wants to say,” Finn said. “I think they think we’d freak out if we knew. As
if that would be the surprising part. Still, it wasn’t hard to figure out.”
Finn spun the Tome toward her and started to flip through the pages. Soon she
found what she was looking for and turned it back so Cassie could see. Sprawled
across the pages was a map covered in lines and pictures labeled with tiny
writing. “Look: a map of the universe.”

“The whole
universe?” Cassie said, leaning over the map. “It’s…well I always pictured it
more swirly.”

“I don’t know,” Finn said. “It doesn’t seem to
show any star systems that aren’t inhabited so I guess it could be more swirly
than it looks here. Plus I think this is to scale so everything’s really tiny. The
guide at the bottom indicates were the map has removed the empty sections. Space
is mostly…space.”

Cassie squinted
to read the labels on the different galaxies printed neatly along the grid.
“Every single one of these systems is inhabited?”

“Seems so.” Finn
turned the page to an informational list. “This section is some kind of atlas.
There’re facts about each planet or moon with intelligent life on it. Who’s
there, imports/exports, major cities and attractions. NASA would kill to get
their hands on this. Look here’s Earth. We are the ‘furthest out of all planets
in the shadow realm and the only inhabited planet in our sector’.”

“What does that
mean?”

“I’m pretty sure
it means that there are a ton of galaxies between us and the next intelligent
life form.” Finn flipped back to the map. “Which makes sense, because as far as
we can see into space right now, there’s nothing. The rest of the Malcoh must
be really far away.” She pointed to a small oval galaxy at the bottom of the
page. “Here we are. See these lines?” Thicker than the grid guidelines, there
were two lines that split the map into three sections. “This whole center part
is the Shadow Realm. Morris wasn’t kidding when he said we were literally
caught in the middle of the war. Here on the left, is the Realm of Light, which
is where I think we are now.”

“Well that would
make sense,” Cassie said. “We’re supposed to be in the Craftling capitol, so
we’d be where the Craftlings are. Which planet are we on?”

Finn pointed to
a dot in the center of the left-hand page. Its galaxy shared a sun with another,
creating two overlapping ovals that resembled a large infinity symbol. There
were three other occupied planets around it. “The planet Renalia,” Finn said. “Home
to the capitol of the order, Marupren, the Palace of Light, the Royal
Mausoleum, and the Archives.”

Cassie measured
the distance with her hand; it was almost a whole foot away from Earth across
the pages. “Kenneth wasn’t kidding when he said we’d come a long way,” she
said.

Finn nodded. “I
tried to calculate the distance with the key, but I can’t translate the unit
here.” She pointed to a square in the corner of the map full of very
complicated-looking symbols. “There must not be any English equivalent ‘cause
the scale says they’re 100,000 something apart and that number is way too small
for light-years or AGN reverberation or even—“

“Sorry. I guess
it’s just…the less in the dark we are the more I feel like we have a chance.
And once you accept that magic and aliens and unicorns are real, it’s almost
exciting. Just think of the possibilities.”

“I know all the possibilities.” Cassie said,
her voice tight.

Finn blanched a
little at that. It was easy to get caught up in all this new information, but
she wasn’t the one whose life was at stake. As kindly as she could, Finn said, “You’re
putting too much pressure on yourself, you know. Things don’t have to be as
grim as you’re making them out to be.”

Cassie shook her
head. “Maybe they don’t. But I feel like I’m being pushed in this one
direction, and no matter what I learn or see there’s this huge destiny hanging
over me. And whatever I decide, someone is going to get hurt.”

“So what are you
going to do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe
Anyu was right—the choice is already made and all I need is the conviction to
commit to a decision.”

“Does that mean
you’ve chosen?” Finn asked.

“No,” Cassie
said, “it means that I lack conviction.

Late into the
night, so long after moonrise that a second moon began to sweep the sky, Finn
was still awake. Cassie, exhausted and overwhelmed, had fallen asleep not long
after she climbed into bed, but Finn could barely lie down for a few minutes at
a time. That strange buzz of adrenaline was still coursing through her. She
couldn’t help but feel like there was something else for her to do, something
left for her to find. After at least an hour of reading the Tome by moonlight
and finding nothing, Finn couldn’t stand it anymore. With a last glance at
Cassie, sleeping sound, she left the bedroom as quietly as she could

In
the dark, it was a little harder to navigate the clutch of rooms that made up
the Royal Suite. Finn banged her leg on the furniture three times before she
found the outer door. Once in the hallway, she wasn’t sure exactly where she
was going. She’d done her best to memorize the ways they’d taken around the
palace earlier, so she started retracing her steps listlessly. It wasn’t long
before she found the door marked “Library”. Finn slipped inside.

The
room she entered was familiar. It looked out on the courtyard from before, the
Star of Rhiath sparking quietly to itself, a pale mirror to its fellows in the
sky. Aside from the wall of windows, there didn’t seem to be any lights to turn
on or even any torches to light. Finn walked along the rows of books, trying to
read the faded covers by moonlight. If she could find something here, anything…

A sudden noise broke the silence; no more than
a soft thud, but Finn was instantly alert. She looked around. On the other side
of the room, where the sound seemed to have come from, there was an open
doorway. Walking through it, it turned immediately down a short hall. At the
very end, light flickered against the wall from an open door. Carefully,
walking on the pads of her feet to avoid making a sound, Finn went to the
doorway and peered inside.

This
room was circular, with the bookcases jutting out like wheel spokes. The wall
itself was lined with books too, not a single window to break up the shelves. The
ornate chandelier was dark, but a lamp blazed on a large central table. The
table itself was covered in books save for the very center where an overlarge
wok sat on a stand. Underneath was a pan full of ash that had probably once
been a small fire. Finn couldn’t see into the wok, but strewn around it were
various herbs, sticks, and a knife.

Three people sat
around the table. One man lay his head on a stack of volumes like a pillow, and
the other was curled up in his chair in what had to be a very uncomfortable
position. After a moment, Finn recognized them as Tom and Carlton. Across the
table from the brothers, sitting with his back to her, was Kenneth, absorbed in
several books laid out in a line in front of him. He was mumbling to himself
and writing notes on a thick pad. Finn cleared her throat softly.

Kenneth
jumped. He leaped to his feet and spun around, arm out. Finn stepped into the
room, arms raised. “Hey,” she said sheepishly.

“No,”
He sat back down in the chair wearily, “no, you’re fine. Is everything all
right?”

Finn
walked up to the table and scanned the odd assortment of things on it. The wok was
only filled with more ash. “I should be asking you that. You look like death.”

“Thanks.”

“I
just mean you’ve been falling down exhausted since we got here. You shouldn’t
be conscious.”

He
chuckled, “yes well, a Lord’s work is never done.” He patted the books in front
of him. “This couldn’t wait. I can sleep for a week once I finish.”

“At
least you have help,” she nodded at Tom and Carl. “Must be fascinating,
whatever you’re doing.”

“It’s
just past their bedtime,” Kenneth joked.

Finn
leaned over to look at the book next to Kenneth’s writing pad. It was thin with
a black cover made from some kind of hide. The words were printed in an odd
configuration—starting from the top left and going around the page marching
inward in a spiral. Finn read from the top line, “…and on the death of the king the land shall be bathed in blood. The
seat of power will be torn asunder and no man left unscathed.” She clicked
her tongue against her teeth, “Some bedtime story.” Kenneth didn’t say
anything. He stared, eyes wide as if Finn had grown a second head. “What?” she
asked him.

“You…you
just read that.”

“Oh,
yeah,” she smiled guiltily. “I think the Tome may have put an enchantment or
something on me. Not really sure how it works, or if it’s gonna go away, but it
seems to be coming in handy.”

“Right,
the Tome,” Kenneth said. “Tom told me you could read it. I just didn’t realize
it applied to other text too. Must have been one hell of an enchantment. I
can’t even read this.”

“You
can’t?” Finn looked back at the book. It seemed to be written in English, but
if she relaxed her eyes she could see the real words—a series of glyphs like
the clear calligraphy of Chinese script.

“This
is Daeorian writing,” Kenneth said. “No Craftling can read it. That’s what I’ve
been doing here. I’m trying to translate it, and it takes some strong magic to
do so.”

Finn
looked at the other books strewn around. They all seemed to be dictionaries or
linguistic texts. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “It must be the
power of the Tome.”

Kenneth
looked back down at the book. “Yeah, I guess it must be. Or your Malcoh blood.
Either way, this could be good.” He turned back to her. “Would you read this
for me? It’d be so much faster.”

“Sure,
I guess.” Finn pushed a stack of books aside and hopped up onto the tabletop. Maybe
this was what she had been wanting—the chance to do something useful. She
picked up the thin book, skimming through the open pages. “Do you want me to
just start at the beginning?”

“No,
you don’t have to,” Kenneth said. He turned his pad to a clean sheet of paper.
“I had to translate the whole thing because I can’t look for what I want. You
can actually skim it. Flip through and try to find anything relating to an
‘Ultimate Power’.”

“Ultimate
Power? What kind of book is this, anyway?” Finn closed the book to look at the
cover. There was a single glyph stamped in the center of a circle with what
appeared to be a snake wound around the edge. She had to concentrate a little harder
to read the name written there.

“Those
are the prophecies of Elysiaa,” Kenneth said. “She was the greatest Seer the
universe has ever known. As a child she was kidnapped and held in the Dacruum
capital for most of her life. It’s why she wrote this way. They say that when she
was rescued and brought here, she would speak only in prophecies. Except to the
King, her husband, and that was only in private.”

“She
married your king?”

“Well
she was very beautiful,” Kenneth said. “There’s a portrait in the library’s
main room; you should go look at it.”

Finn
opened the Book again. “She certainly sounds interesting. But beautiful or not,
her writing’s a little…dark. And cryptic. Listen to this: ‘…there the warriors of light shall fall,
unless they dare submit to the stranger’s power.’ How is that supposed to
help anybody?”

“Prophecies
hardly ever make any sense,” Kenneth said. “The seers say it’s because they
have to account for all possible outcomes, but I think they’re covering for the
fact that they can’t actually see anything useful about the future. This book
is very old though, it’s more for information, not answers.”

“I
think we’ll be lucky if we can get even that.” Finn turned the book to follow
the swirling script. Even with the words translated it was difficult to
understand much of anything. She read aloud every passage that mentioned great
power, but nothing seemed to be what they were looking for. Until she reached
the very last entry in the book.

“Here
it is!” Finn exclaimed. She read, “The
Ultimate Power shall devour him, and with him all creation shall fall.” She
looked up at Kenneth. “That doesn’t sound very good.”

“No,”
Kenneth agreed, “it doesn’t. Can you read that section from the beginning?”

“Yeah,”
Finn said. She flipped to the previous page. “My husband has achieved his goal. Creation is unsealed and the universe
returned to its original state. Some will find salvation in this new era,
others great suffering. Still, it won’t be until the reawakening when any of
them will find true redemption. Hardship will test the people and rise up the
mighty and the brave until the next era can begin. At that time the one true
heir of Mercutio will be born to face the ancient trial. Only she can undo what
has been done and cast off Origin forever. However to do so, she must stand
against a great evil. In many ways and with much bloodshed the dark one will
seek that which should not ever be. They will come, if bid, but he who compels
them will find only what he has always sought: foolishness and death. The
Ultimate Power shall devour him, and with him all creation shall fall. What
then but to fall to one’s knees before divinity and pray for salvation? The heir
must learn the secret of the fallen, and unite that which has not been for many
hundreds of years. The strongest light shines in darkness, and the brightest
star casts the largest shadow. It is true that one who desires to live a life
of magic must walk down one of three paths, but there are other lives to live
and other paths to follow. Destinies are made by force of will even when the
fates stand against us.”

Finn
looked up. “Does that…help any?”

Kenneth
sighed, looking down at the transcript he’d scribbled down. “Not really. But it
gives us a place to start, anyway.”

“No,”
Kenneth laughed. “You read what’ll happen if its summoned. I’m trying to stop
it. A few weeks ago, we received intelligence that the Dacruum are trying to summon the Ultimate Power.
Unfortunately this is best lead I’ve gotten so far about how to fight it.
Still, I have no idea who the fallen are or what will need to be united. And
the heir of Mercutio…are you sure there’s nothing else?”

Finn
turned the book around to show him. “That’s all she wrote. When exactly did
this Elysiaa live, anyway?”

“Some
five-hundred years ago by universal reckoning,” Kenneth said. “She died not
long after the Rite of Origin was completed. In childbirth, I think.”

“Five-hundred
years ago? Man.” Finn looked down at the page again. “What is the Rite of
Origin? It says a lot about Origin and Creation in here.”

“That’s
kind of a long story, and not a happy one,” Kenneth admitted. “But I suppose
you’ll have learn about it eventually. Hand me that green book behind you and
I’ll explain what I can.”

When
Finn shook Cassie awake, she sprang up and nearly smacked Finn in the face.
“What? Who’s there?” It took a second for her eyes to focus on Finn sitting on
the edge of the bed. “Finn? What’s going on?”

“I
did it,” Finn said. “I figured it out.”

“Figured
what out?”

“Everything,”
Finn said dramatically. She held up a piece of paper with a crudely-drawn
symbol on it.

“I
mean what we were talking about earlier,” Finn said as if it were obvious.
“About how you thought you didn’t have any options? I found an option.”

“Oh,
ok,” Cassie said. She turned her head to look at the strange symbol from a
different angle. “So what exactly is it?”

“This
is the Daeorian glyph for ‘Creation’.” When this only produced a blank stare
from Cassie, Finn said, “Maybe I should start from the beginning.”

“Please,”
Cassie said.

“Ok.”
Finn took a deep breath. “So I ran into Kenneth in the library and he was
trying to translate this book of prophecies.”

“He
was still up? Shouldn’t he be resting after today?”

“Yeah,
he should. He looks like hell warmed over, but he was determined. And this
book—it’s important. He’s not able to read the writing, but apparently that
enchantment the Tome put on me lets me understand it. Kenneth thinks it’s
because I’m a ‘Malcoh’ or whatever. And these glyphs are not like normal
writing.”

“What
are they, then?” Cassie said.

“Well
apparently when language was first invented no one ever wrote anything down.
But when the Designators came up with the idea for the whole Tome thing, they
had to create writing. Basically each one of them spoke the same language but
came up with an entirely different way to write it down. That weird language in
your Book? That’s High Renalian, the writing of the Craftlings. This,” Finn
held up the piece of paper, “is the Dacruum writing. It’s just called Daeorian
Glyphs.”

“And
you can read that?”

“Yeah,”
Finn nodded. “I translated that book for Kenneth, and that’s where we found the
answer.”

“Ok,”
Cassie said, “so what exactly is this answer of yours?” She put a hand up
before Finn could say anything. “And don’t show me the paper again.”

Finn
laughed. “Ok, ok. Do you remember Morris mentioning something about the Rite of
Origin?”

“Yeah.
He just said it was the reason my ancestors had to lay all those enchantments.”

“It
was,” Finn said. “Because before the Rite, they weren’t necessary. See, it all
goes back to when the universe was created. According to Kenneth, those three
Designators were the first beings to have magic. And they had to decide among
themselves how to use it. The Designator of Light had one idea, and the
Designator of Darkness had another idea, and the Designator of Shadow thought
they both made excellent points. So they couldn’t agree. That’s why there are
three sections of the universe and three doctrines. Three ways to access power,
three ways to use it. Three paths.”

“Ok,”
Cassie said, “but what does that have to do with Origin?”

“Everything,”
Finn said. “Origin is the name for the state of the universe when it was first
created. Things like the laws of physics and the way matter reacts, and
definitely magic, were all in sort of a raw, beginning state. But supposedly,
the whole “Creation’ thing was a long process and eventually the state of the
universe changed.”

“How?”
“Something called the
‘Progression of Creation’. Remember how the Shadow Designator couldn’t decide between
the other two? Well he made his cool compromise way, but he thought that his
people should have the right to choose. The other Designators just made their
realms and their Doctrines and left it at that, but every planet in the Shadow
Realm had to decide for themselves which path to follow. And with every choice,
the universe became more stable. But it took like millions of years, and in the
meantime, the war started. Light and Dark tried to influence each planet to one
side or the other when its turn came, and they fought pretty brutally over it.”

“This
war has lasted millions of years?” Cassie said.

Finn
nodded. “They say it will never end. As long free will exists, blood will be
shed in the attempt to force other people to choose what someone else wants.”

“Yup,”
Finn said. “And that’s when the universe was finished. As soon as the last
planet, which was Earth by the way, made their choice, the universe sealed itself,
sort of like a finishing touch. I’m not sure exactly what it did to the laws of
physics, but apparently there were barriers between the realms and new types of
magic, and every planet got some huge power boost. That final state, which only
happened a few thousand years ago, was Creation, all neat and tidy.”

“This
is the answer you found, isn’t it?” Cassie said, starting to pick up Finn’s
excitement. “If we could re-seal creation, then the Craftlings would be safe on
their own. I wouldn’t have to be Queen and no one would have die.”

“Not
a one,” Finn grinned proudly. “And that’s what the paper is for.”

Cassie
chuckled. “Ok, ok. So what does the glyph have to do with all of this?”

Finn
cleared her throat and held up the paper again. “The old language is so
powerful that the words don’t just represent something, they reflect its true
nature. That’s why it works so well for magic, according to Kenneth. But I
think the words themselves can also tell us about what they represent, things
we wouldn’t otherwise know.” She pointed to the glyph. “This says ‘Creation’.
But look at this.” She turned the paper over so that the glyph was upside down.

“I
can tell that I’m supposed to be impressed right now,” Cassie said, “but all I
see is triangles and squiggly lines.”

Finn
sighed. “This is the glyph for ‘Origin’. It’s just the reciprocal of Creation.”

“And
that means…”

“That
means that the two are connected. See, all this time everyone thought that in
order to go from Creation to Origin, Mercutio had to tear apart the universe.
And if he ripped everything up and broke it, then it was irreversible. But—”

“But
if they’re connected, there might be a way to change it back?”

“Right,”
Finn said, pointing enthusiastically at Cassie. “Think of it as an
electromagnet. Set it up one way and it’s negative, but set it up in the
opposite direction and you have a positive current.”

“And
you’re saying that you and Kenneth found some way to flip the switch?”

“That’s
what the prophecy in that book was about. It said that the one true heir of
Mercutio would have the power to reverse the Rite and seal Creation again. And
we think that you are that heir.”

“Why
would I be the heir of Mercutio?”

“Cause
he’s your great-great-great-great-something-grandfather. He was the King
married to Elysiaa, who wrote the prophecy.”

“Trust
me, Elysiaa is on our side. Her prophecy tells you all you need to know, in a
cryptic sort of way. And I’m sure it’s right. It even said the heir was a girl.
And the whole ‘Ultimate Power’ thing is happening at the same time, and that
can’t be a coincidence.”

Cassie
covered her face with her hands. “Am I going to regret asking you what you
meant by that?”

Finn
grimaced. “Uh…no?” She sighed. “Ok probably. The Ultimate Power is this thing
that the Dacruum are trying to summon. Supposedly it will backfire on them and
destroy the whole universe. But on the bright side, you’re supposed to be able
to stop them.”

“I
think so. Like I said it’s cryptic, but the information is still there. And we
have time to figure it out. I think.”

“I’m
gonna have to read this prophecy. I think you’re trying to make it sound better
than it is.”

“It’s
not that bad,” Finn insisted. “Besides, it gives us a much better option. You
said that it was too late to avoid bloodshed, but maybe this could be a way.”

Cassie
thought for a moment. “In order to do this, I’d have to accept the crown,
wouldn’t I?”

“For
now, probably. To keep people safe while you work on the prophecy. Plus the
extra power would help.”

“I
don’t know how I like that, but I guess this way it would only be temporary. If
I wanted it to be,” Cassie added. “Still, it’s a compromise. And that’s much
better than what I had before. As long as we’re careful and take our time, it
could work.” She looked up at Finn. “It will work, won’t it?”

“I
think so,” Finn said. “I hope so.”

“I
guess that’ll have to be good enough. But I have one condition.”

“What?”

Cassie
reached out and took her friend by the hand. “You have to do it with me. You
have to stay. I know it’s too much to ask, and you’ve helped so much already
but—”

“It’s
ok,” Finn cut her off. She gave Cassie’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I want to
stay. You always get into trouble when I’m not around. I promise, we’ll do this
together. No matter what.”

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